The NYR begins with the opportunity for you to vote for the book that you think should represent Victoria as one of the eight on our national recommended reading list for 2012.

Here is the  shortlist of the eight Victorian books for you to vote. Voting closes on the 6th January 2012, with the winning books announced at the launch on the NYR on 14 February 2012 at the National Library of Australia in Canberra. Click on the book to vote:

 How you ever heard of a British Samurai?  No, then this is one book that will find interesting and enjoyable. This book is called The   Ring of Water from the Young Samurai series written by Chris Bradford and published by Puffin Books.

When I was given the opportunity to review this book I was a little skeptical on whether I should do it. The main reason for thinking like that was because I had been given the third book a few months earlier and The Ring of Water is the fifth in the series. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t enjoy the book as much as I would have hoped because I had missed so many books. Fortunately my worries were washed away because at the beginning of the book is a short summary of the story so far, beginning from the end of book three and what happened in book four. This was a very clever idea and it didn’t take me long to get into the story.

I believe that anyone from the ages of ten to fifteen who enjoys action or emotional events (trust me, many people care for those moments) will enjoy reading The Ring of Water so much that they won’t be able to put it down until they finish it!

All in all, this is a great read and I can’t wait for to read the next book!      

Book Review by Julian Virgona

Diary of a Wimpy Vampire: Prince of Dorkness, written by Tim Collins, is a Comedy Fantasy book and also a parody of the Twilight and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, about teenage vampire Nigel Mullet as he goes through his day to day life in a year. Transformed at the awkward age of fifteen, Nigel must deal with the troubles of being a teenager for the rest of eternity, which includes everything from changing styles through the decades to trying to capture the heart of the girl of his dreams.

With a head start on the latter, Nigel has a girlfriend, his ‘true love’ Chloe, and is popular at school for the first time in his life. However, this seemingly perfect situation for Nigel is quick to change when a new kid arrives at school. But who is this boy and what is it about him that has Nigel’s entire life falling apart?

The book is written in the classic Diary of a Wimpy Kid style with the handwriting-like font and the chapters broken up into months and days to make it feel like a real diary. Diary of a Wimpy Vampire 2 has a very captivating storyline. It has some amazing plot twists that will definitely make you gawk and not only is it both interesting and funny, but it’s very relatable too. Not often do you find a book where the main character is fifteen. Usually they are either sixteen or seventeen or younger still at around thirteen. However, this is one of the books strongest features. It captures teenage problems perfectly such as being ignored by your family, romantic troubles, social groups at school and even Facebook Stalking!

This makes you relate to Nigel to a degree where you start to feel how he is feeling and understand what he is going through. If you have had any experience with one of the above mentioned examples, you’re going to find relating with Nigel a breeze as he has a run in with each, some for only a good chapter or two while others span over the entire book.

Collins did well in mirroring Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but the books only ‘parody’ of the series is the messy handwriting and the comedic pictures. Also, there isn’t much Twilight parody in this book either. I have read both series so I was expecting some really obvious jokes and big laughs but Diary of a Wimpy Vampire parodies the books more in a way of mixing the two series into one series as opposed to making fun of every aspect of the books. A few gags did make me chuckle but this book had more witty humour, that wasn’t even to do with making fun of the other books, than laugh-out-loud humour. Regardless, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book and found it very hard to put down. 

The character of Nigel is written extremely well as you really believe he is a one hundred year old vampire just by the way he talks, acts and thinks. He is much more believable as a vampire than those in Twilight which is probably a parody in itself. I really liked how in this book, they brought back the classic vampires who must drink human blood and simply get hurt by the sun (though not to the degree that they die). I really liked some of the fun little twists in the lifestyle of these vampires Collins introduced as well, like the vampires drinking their blood from flasks they’ve filled up on hunting trips. However, the only thing I found a little bit weird in an otherwise great storyline is why Nigel’s family transformed Nigel’s sister at such a young age. She was transformed at around ten so she will remain thinking, speaking and acting like a ten year old for all of eternity. It was all for laughs, I know, but I just found it a little bit ridiculous.

In conclusion though, Diary of a Wimpy Vampire: Prince of Dorkness is a very fun book to read. Despite failing to impress in terms of its laughs and parodying of Twilight and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the book still has a great, captivating storyline, believable characters and a relatable main character. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed the actual books of the above mentioned parodies or even would like to read a good, modernised book about vampires that isn’t Twilight.

We appreciated having Father Paul present the prize winners with their books and certificates. It was also lovely to have many families and staff present at our celebration.

A total of 512 books were read by all our PRC participants. Four students read more than 10 books and 18 students read more than 15 books. The students who met the Challenge will be listed in the Honour Roll which will be published on 27 November in The Sunday Age. Congratulations to all readers and we hope you take the Challenge again next year.]

 It is an age old argument – is the book better than the  movie? One that will not be answered today. This post is simply to say there are some great movies and some not so great movies out there that are based on some of our favourite books. Some of these are due out soon and some due out or rumoured for next year. Leave a comment if you know of others that are due out soon or tell us which ones you are looking forward to the most.

Coming soon

 The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick is a wonderful story told with both text and beautiful illustrations. Read all about the author, Brian Selznick and the story on this great website. 

The Invention of Hugo Cabret movie – directed by Martin Scorsese – starring Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn by Herge

Due for release 2012 or rumoured for 2012/2013

The hunger games by Suzanne Collins

World War Z by Max Brooks      

The hobbit by J.R. R. Tolkien      

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Tinker, Tailor soldier spy by John la Care

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

Tomorrow, When the War Began 2 (The dead of the night) by John Marsden

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Septimus Heap: Magyk by Angie Sage

Forest of hands and teeth by Carrie Ryan

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

City of Bones (Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare

The passage by Justin Cronin

The Maze runner by James Dashner

See the list below to read about movie releases in the last couple of years that you may have not have realised were based on books

2011

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

Lincoln lawyer by Michael Connelly

127 hours by Aaron Ralston

Cowboys and Aliens by Fred Van Lente

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Roderick Rules by Jeff Kinney

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 2) by JK Rowling

2010

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Scott Pilgrim Versus The World by Bryan Lee O’Malley

Percy Jackson and the lightening thief by Rick Riordan

I am number four by Pitticus Lore

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1) by JK Rowling

Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

2009

Where the wild things are by Maurice Sendak

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant by Darren Shan

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Watchmen by Alan Moore

The road by Cormac McCarthy

Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Recommended fiction

Click to view slideshow.

or if crime fiction is more your thing.

Click to view slideshow.

If fiction is not your thing and you prefer true stories and biographies…..

We also have a number of Kindles available to borrow. Some of the books available on the Kindles are…..

Click to view slideshow.

And some new additions to our most popular series:

• Peoples Republic  - is book 1 in a second Cherub series by Robert Muchamore 
• Survivor is book 2 in James Phelan’s Alone series 
• The power of six the next book after I am number four by Pitticus Lore
• Derek Landy has released the 6th book Death bringer in the Skulduggery Pleasant series 
• Dark Zone is book 4 in the Galahad series by Dom Testa 
• Young Sherlock Holmes by Andrew Lane has a new title Black Ice, the 3rd book in his series
• The 2nd book in the new Tripwire series by Steve Cole Deathwing has just arrived.
• The exciting sequel to Inside Out by Marie V Snyder Outside in is a great read

We have also received a number of new series which you will want to check out

Assassins’s Creed by Oliver Bowden – we have Renaissance , Brotherhood, and Secret Crusade. Based on the popular video game.

There is a new series called Numbers and we have 3 books from this series Numbers, Chaos and Infinity.  This series has received rave reviews and won lots awards and deservedly so. The first book starts with the main character Jem, who has the ability to “see” the date someone will die when she looks into their eyes. 

“Numbers is a true pulse racing narrative, leaving you breathless after only the first chapter. Rachel Ward writes with a flair, picking out life’s more delicate moments amongst an unforgiving account of escape and hardship.” – John Lloyd, Waterstones.

See the slideshow below for all new titles.

Click here to view the shortlisted books and to cast your vote. Voting closes on the 14th October.

THE GOLD INKY (for an Australian YA book)

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
This Is Shyness by Leanne Hall
Silvermay by James Moloney
Black Painted Fingernails by Steven Herrick
All I Ever Wanted by Vikki Wakefield

The SILVER INKY (for an international YA book)                                                              

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
No and Me by Delphine de Vigan
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
The Agency: The Body at the Tower by Y.S. Lee
Where She Went by Gayle Forman

One World, Many Stories

Everyone is welcome to come in and have a look, as well as participate in the different activities and competitions. This year our competitions are:

• Last book read – match the names with the book
• Whose bookshelf – match the names with the bookshelf
• Foreign book cover quiz – guess the title of the book
• Library Treasure Hunt